To find Something Beautiful
by FerrsureeLauren
Summary: Draco gets hit by a Memory Charm and it's Hermione who takes care of him as he gets his memory back. Draco ends up wanting her as his days become numbered.
1. Different

**No, it's not a oneshot. I got inspired to write this story while listening to The Scientist by Coldplay, Run by Snow Patrol and someone. In other words, very angsty. xD**

**Don't worry, I'll write a joyeux et drôle story soon. ****That means cheerful and funnier. ^__^ I'm still musing over a few ideas. But the bad part is, they always come during school. -.- I get so distracted... Then when I get home I forget half of them. **

**Well, enjoy! :]**

It was midnight.

Hermione just finished her night shift at St. Mungo's hospital. For six months, she had taken her faithful place at the fourth floor: Spell Damage. She took her shifts and floor choice carefully to avoid meeting Ron at work. Ron was engaged to Lavender.

She entered her house with a casual flick of her wand and closed the door behind her. She unzipped her jacket and took her hair out of her ponytail, shaking the rain out of it. Deciding that changing out of the damp clothes was first on her adjenda, she stripped off the outer layer of her shirt was about to turn on the lights when she heard a muffled thump.

Someone was in the house.

She retrieved her wand once more, turning around on the spot. It was coming from her bedroom down the hall. _Wait a minute, Ginny does this all the time, _she thought.

"Ginny, this isn't funny," She huffed, stowing her wand back in her pocket and marching loudly down the hallway. "Just because you and Harry are getting married doesn't mean I'll let you just enter my house without my permission-"

She shoved open the door with a scowl on her face when she froze, her hand still on the handle. The hooded figure in front of her was no Ginny. It was a male. A pale hand was extended towards her, brandishing a wand.

She couldn't see his face beneath his hood. He stepped forward until the wand was pointing squarely into her chest.

"Don't. Move." The voice hissed. Hermione's suspicions soared. That voice sounded familiar.

She spoke through unmoving lips, "Who are you?"

For a moment, he didn't answer. "It doesn't matter." At that moment, lightning struck outside, illuminating the dark room for a mere fraction of a second. But it was all Hermione needed.

She could see the blonde, sleek hair spilling over sharp, gray eyes. His pointed face was puzzled, but blank. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. The familiar sneer on his face was absent.

"The memory charm," Hermione breathed, alarmed. "Malfoy, snap out of it!"

Malfoy didn't respond. Instead, she suddenly felt excrutiating pain that shot violently through her body. She started screaming, her voice echoing through the house. She retrieved her wand from her pocket, trying to hold herself together.

She pointed it with a wobbly aim. _Stupefy! _She thought wordlessly.

It did the trick. Malfoy swayed dangerously on the spot, stiff as a board. He fell over with a loud crash. The Imperius Curse lost its effect on her. She stood up carefully, eyeing him.

As much as she was repulsed to do it, he clearly needed to be sent to St. Mungo's. She wasn't sure how strong the memory charm had affected him. She knelt down, holding him. She spun on the spot and they appeared in the fourth floor of the hospital. The ward was empty.

Muttering angrily under her breath, she levitated Malfoy to the closest bed near the window. She dragged a chair and sat down next to him, her face blank. His eyes were roaming around the room rapidly.

She _should _start to get to work on him...

But it wasn't her shift...

She was exhausted.

She sat down on a chair and leaned her head at the foot of the bed, feeling the strength drain from her. She yawned once, smiling up at the puzzled Malfoy and fell asleep.

* * *

**Hmm :P**

**I know it's an incredibly short chapter, but the next one's longer.**

**Review!**


	2. Mine

**I don't own Harry Potter :O**

She opened her eyes, warm sunlight spilling into the room.

_What an odd dream_, she thought, rubbing her eyes. She stretched, arching her back. She looked around her bedroom and frowned.

She was still in the hospital ward, her own bedroom a few blocks away. _So it really wasn't a dream? _She peered curiously at the empty bed in front of her. It looked as if it had been slept in, alright. The black robe lay abandoned at the floor. Malfoy however, was nowhere in sight.

Her heart started to race. The ward was empty. Panicking, she darted out of the ward and into the hallway. She ignored the puzzled hellos she recieved and sped down the stairs. She reached the first floor when she was stopped by the last person she wanted to see.

Ron.

"Oh, what are you doing here so early?" He asked curiously. He had bags under his eyes and looked as if he had did something very amusing. He was standing in the hallway, blocking her path.

"Move, Ronald, I need to go!" She shrieked, jumping to try and look over his shoulder.

He scowled. "Ronald? Since when do you call me that? And why are you dressed like that?"

She looked down at herself, turning red: she was still wearing a thin undershirt. "One question at a time please," She begged, trying to edge her way around him and hiding her embarassment. "It's not my shift, but I need to do something..."

"You know, Malfoy was here a second ago. I've been seeing him a lot lately-"

"Which way did he go?" Hermione spat, cutting him off.

He looked offended. "He took off through the front doors, like he was on some casual stroll. He looked like he was under a bad memory charm, though... Poor bloke... Oh hey, funny story-"

She didn't listen to anything else. She darted out the front door, looking up and down the street. She finally spotted him - dissapearing around the corner. She followed him, trying to appear as an everyday muggle.

It wasn't working, however. Many people watched as she passed. A small group of men even whistled in her direction from across the street. Furious, she clutched her arms around her thin undershirt and kept on following the slow bobbing head still wandering down the street. Malfoy was wearing a plain muggle t-shirt and muggle pants.

He was in the park when she finally snatched him by the sleeve. "Malfoy, where do you think you're even going-"

"Oh hello! I remember you!" He bellowed at her, alerting a few muggles strolling past. Hermione nearly fell back. That was the friendliest his voice had ever been.

But still, he still seemed very confused. Whoever had done the Memory Charm on him was clearly not good at it.

"Yeah you do. Come back with me, Malfoy, you don't belong here." She growled. He looked around himself; First at the muggle-filled park, the ice cream parlor across the street, and finally, her.

"But I want to walk first." He took off again, striding confidently down the sidewalk. Some muggles were still watching. Hermione smiled pathetically and made a circular notion with her finger pointed to the side of her head, feigning that Malfoy was simply loose in the head. The nearest muggle shrugged.

She took her place beside him, speaking in a sharper, but softer voice. "You're not well, Malfoy. You need to come back to St. Mungo's. You're under a Memory Charm."

"Memory? Charm? I only like the 'Charm' part, since I believe I'm indeed _very _charming..." He babbled, grinning impishly down at her. Hermione smacked the palm of her hand to her forehead.

"Please come with me, you might do something stupid and expose our wizarding world." She tried saying soothingly, grimacing as she clutched his arm and tried bringing him in the other direction.

"STOP!" He hollered, pulling himself out of her grasp and retreating a few steps. Hermione froze as he started to reach inside his pocket where the tip of his wand was protruding.

"Malfoy, Malfoy... _Malfoy_!" She lunged forward just as the tips of his fingers were an inch away from the wand. She tackled him to the ground, surprised at her own strength.

Malfoy didn't get angry again. Instead, he stared past her, towards the sky. "Wow, look at the sky," He said in an awed tone. "And the sunlight. You look very pretty in the sunlight, you know..."

It was like talking to a little kid.

"Come on, lay next to me. The sky looks very pretty, er... What's your name again?"

Hermione lay there on top of him, dazed. It was so weird talking to a nice Malfoy. She obeyed, deciding it was safter to just listen to him for now. She rolled to her side and lay on the grass next to him. The ground was very hot.

A few muggles giggled as they passed. Hermione rolled her eyes but ignored them, staring at the sky loyally.

For once, Malfoy was actually right. The sun was in the corner of their sight, but manageable. The sky was a pure, shocking blue. There were a few clouds here and there, but it was still a very pretty scene. She lay, listening to Malfoy's easy breathing for a peaceful moment.

"You never told me your name." He spoke, looking sideways at her.

Hermione turned her head to stare back. "Oh, it's Hermione." She said slowly and carefully.

He laughed. "Her-my-nee? Hermy... Nah... Ninny, nope. M-Min? Ah. Mine! There you go, I'll just call you 'Mine.'"

Hermione flushed a bright, tomato red. "Er- that's fine with me-"

"So, you're mine," He chirped brightly. "Look at that cloud!"

They stared picking out shapes in the clouds. Draco picked out a mushroom shaped cloud, and Hermione joined in, picking out animals and other shapes in the clouds.

She didn't even hear the other curious mutters of the muggles anymore.

"Oh, that looks like a rose," Malfoy sang, pointing. "Roses are very pretty."

She nodded. "Almost makes me wish I had one right now."

Malfoy sat up very abruptly. "You want a rose? Here you go." He turned away from her for a moment. She sat up, curious. Malfoy had started to retrieve his wand.

Hermione squeaked. She pounced on top of him, trying to hide it from view. He laughed childlishly. She felt him move his wand once and she saw a rose appear on top of his chest. She looked around nervously. None of the muggles were watching. They seemed to have lost interest in making fun of them an hour ago.

"Here you go. It's a present to Mine." He grinned impishly. Hermione rolled off him and they both sat up. He stowed his wand back inside his pocket.

Wordlessly, she took the red rose from his hand.

"I'm getting kind of hungry. Let's go back to that place you wanted me to go to now." He stood up, brushing grass of himself. Hermione stood up and smiled weakly at him.

How weird this was, indeed. She looked off towards the horizon, where the sun was about to set. He was about to march off when he suddenly gasped.

He collapsed on the ground, clutching his arm, but not uttering a single sound.

"Malfoy! Wh-what-" But he had stopped writhing. His eyes were closed. Hermione helped him stand up and she led him to a nearby bench.

He was still clutching his arm with his eyes shut tight. With soft hands, she rolled his sleeve back to expose his arm. There, on his wrist, was the Dark Mark. It had a bright red, "1" burned just above it.

"I-It..." He panted, taking in shaky breaths of air. "Wait, I'm starting to remember..."

She sat next to him silently, saying nothing.

"Someone really tall... In a dark cloak... Slits for eyes..." He stuttered. Hermione knew instantly he was getting flashbacks of the Dark Lord. She said nothing. "I remember him cursing me..."

He groaned.

"It'll be alright, Malfoy, it'll be alright..."

He smiled weakly. They stood up and he leaned against her on their way across the park.

"Wait!" He let go of her and ran back to the bench, searching. Hermione watched as he picked up something and came running back to her. "You forgot your rose." He brushed her hair back and tucked the rose behind her ear carefully.

They were almost out of the park when Hermione reached out tentatively and laced her hand in his.

* * *

**Review, please ^^**


	3. Wanting

-

She sat him back down in his bed after checking him in at the front desk and officially assigning him to a fourth floor ward. She bustled to the kitchen and came back, carrying a tray of food.

He started on the sandwich first, scarfing it down like his life depended on it. Hermione made sure he didn't choke and then handed him a glass of water. There was no other patients in the ward. They were never bothered.

"I want to play a game." He said in the midst of shoveling the food in his mouth.

Hermione chortled. "You mean who can eat food the fastest?"

"Nah. I'll win that one," He said, throwing her a disbelieving look. "Another game. Like... hmm... Finding something... Beautiful!"

She tilted her head. "To find something beautiful? Sounds like a fun game. You first."

"Okay. Oh, and say a number, first. You can say more than one thing per turn, but you have to say how many beautiful things you see first. You lose if you run out of things to point out. Here, let me give an example." He was thoughtful for a moment. He pointed to the rose still tucked behind her ear. "Two. That rose and this meal."

She giggled. "Aww, I was going to say the rose. Hmm..." She looked around the room. "One. That vase."

He grinned and looked around, swallowing "Can I get one more sandwich?" He asked politely, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "The vase isn't that beautiful, by the way."

She frowned. "It's not?"

"No! That's what makes this game hard. Beautiful things are hard to find." He looked at her.

Hermione was on her way to the kitchen when Ron blocked her in the hallway again.

"What's this? I never see you anymore and all of a sudden, it's like I'm seeing you too often today!" He announced with an impish grin.

"Er, yeah," She shuffled her foot back and forth. "Now can you excuse me?"

"No, I wanted to tell you a joke! Well not a joke, really. But still, it's funny to me." He didn't move.

"Well, make it quick, I've got a patient waiting."

"Okay, so yesterday, I was walking home from this place. I saw some bloke wandering around in black robes. I'm never good at Memory Charms, so I wanted to try it on this guy..." He babbled. Hermione's face paled, but she continued listening. "So behind his back, I tried it out, and he froze on the spot! He was facing your house before I did anything, which was kind of weird but, anyway, he kind of turned around and I saw that it was Mr. Bloke himself!

"Malfoy was all in shock for a moment, which looked like the Memory Charm was doing its work. But then he just stared at me blankly until I walked away."

Hermione was very quiet. "Was that the punchline?"

"Yeah! It was Malfoy!"

"Funny," She strode forward until she was nose to nose with him. "He's now a patient at St. Mungo's because of that. Didn't you know that?" Her blood was rising. "You messed him up! Now I think he's under a death curse and he has one day left! HOW FUNNY IS IT NOW?"

Ron's face turned white. "Er- I didn't know all of _that_, but..."

"IT ISN'T FUNNY AT ALL, RON!"

"_I didn't curse him, though!" _He bellowed back in her face. "I didn't do anything to curse him like that, I just did a simple memory charm!"

She swayed on the spot. "You didn't?"

"No! I don't even know how! So he must have had it before or something, but I dunno..."

She shoved him and strode away, her jaw clenched.

-

He was writhing again when she came back. He was clutching the scar and this time, he was screaming. She rushed forward, dropping the tray on the side table and taking out her wand.

She tried every spell she could to try to numb his pain. None of it worked. Two more people rushed into the room, having heard the screams. They froze for a moment, staring at Malfoy, unsure of what to do.

"Can you stop staring and help me the fuck out?" She shrieked. They snapped to their senses and rushed to her sides, trying every spell they possibly could.

He finally grew still.

They all stared down at him. Hermione reached out and stroked his forehead, brushing his hair back. He turned his face into her hand and opened his eyes. He glared up at them all.

"Geroff me, you filthy Mudblood!" He shouted, shoving her hand fiercely, making her stumble back a bit. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Go away!" He yelled at all of them. The other two departed, casting Hermione weary looks. She shrugged.

They all knew of his curse.

"Malfoy... The curse..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" He didn't look at her. He was staring down at the still red, "1" embedded on his arm above the Dark Mark. "One more day. Fuck it all."

Her hands shook. "I'm sorry."

He glared at her. "Damn right you better be sorry. You could have done something when you had the chance. I mean about my memory. If I got my memory back sooner, I could have enjoyed my life for a bit more," He paused. "Speaking of which, whoever did this Memory Curse really sucks at it if I got my memory back now."

She lowered her hand. "I know."

"This place is filthy," He shoved the empty tray off his lap and stood up. "And it wreaks Granger."

He was walking out of the ward.

"You're not allowed to leave." She said feebly. He was still walking. She darted forward and snatched his arm.

"Let go of me, Mudblood!" He snarled. She released him as if she was stung. "And that rose!" He snatched it from its perch behind her ear. "Let me give it to someone who actually deserves it."

He strode out of the ward, slamming the door shut behind him.

-

_What am I doing?_

She stood at the threshold of the entrance to the rooftop, deliberating. She could see Malfoy clearly, sitting at the edge of the roof across from her. She knew he knew she was there. He was doing a good job of ignoring her.

_I shouldn't be here._

"Go away." He said bitterly, echoing her thoughts. He was still not looking at her.

"I'm not supposed to leave you alone," She said firmly, squaring her shoulders and marching over to him. She stood for a moment, then sat down next to him.

"Old habits die hard." He hissed, edging away from her.

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean like _that_, I meant, this is my _job_. I work here."

"It's sarcasm, idiot."

She bit her lip. "Why do you still hate me so much?"

"What's this? Feeling emotional? Oh please," He scoffed. "The same reason I still hated you years ago."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Your blood. You're a Mudblood. That's unforgivable. And I hate you because you were such a know-it-all. Wait," He frowned. "You asked me why _I _still hated you. What, you don't hate me anymore?"

She knew it was best to be honest. Deep inside, she knew there was no difference between the simple Malfoy in the park than the Malfoy next to her.

"No, I don't hate you anymore," She said quietly. "I see no reason to. I stopped a few hours ago. In my heart, really deep down, a part of me says that you really don't deserve to die this way."

He was silent for a moment. "I'm going to die anyway."

His voice was weak, now.

"You can be nice when you want to be." She said in a small voice.

His face hardened. "Well, that's not by my nature. I'm the kind that'll take your life and screw it over."

"Okay, so let's say that," She spoke, her voice shaking. "Let's say you like screwing up people's lives. Then what about you? What did you really want in life, anyway?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm here!" She snarled. "I'm listening! And I'm surrendering. I'm saying I don't hate you anymore, and here you are still being a prat!"

He was quiet. "I've always wanted to have kids. And marry. I've always daydreamed about being a dad. Probably a better one than my own was."

She looked down at the street below them. "I'm sorry."

He snorted. "For what? It's not like you did this death curse."

"I don't know. It's just... Losing you. I mean, not that I care about you, no offence. But just thinking about you not being here after sunset tomorrow that I just..."

"Finally try and want to figure me out." He concluded for her.

She nodded. "I'm sorry," She began, but she stopped. "Why were you going to my house in the first place, anyway? Ronald said you were heading towards my house before he did the Memory Charm."

He didn't meet her eyes.

"Hey, I asked you a question."

"I wanted to kill you. I've never done it before. I wanted to step out on the other side of the law for one last time. The first person that I wanted to... kill was you."

She felt her blood start to boil. "Really, Malfoy? And how do you feel now?"

He shrugged. "I don't care anymore. And for the record, I don't really care about you, either. Why did I have to be stuck with you in the last hours of my life?"

He stood up and strode away from her. She stood up and was about to walk after him when she stopped. He slammed the door behind him, leaving her alone on the rooftop.

Angry tears started rolling down her face when the door crashed open again. He marched across the rooftop and grabbed her face with both hands.

He pressed his lips to hers.

She was shocked for a moment.

But then she just stopped giving second thoughts. She wrapped her arms around his neck, molding herself to him. He he ran his hands down her waist and back up, twisting his hands into her hair.

He pulled her hair back, exposing her neck to him. He kissed there roughly, biting almost painfully. He pressed his lips back to her, tracing his tongue across her lips and finally exploring her mouth. Hermione made a small, content sound at the back of her throat, and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing his hips to hers.

She knew why he was doing this. He wanted to come as close as he possibly could to what he wanted out of life as possible before he died. In this case, he just wanted to have her before he died. She knew he just didn't want to die alone.

It was fine with her.

* * *

**Review review review review review! **

**No, the story's not done yet :D**

**One more chapter to go, loves. **


	4. A thousand

**Final chapter :p**

**_Review! _They're what I write stories for.**

They fell asleep on the same cot, holding hands, the rose between their palms. She had woken up first, yawning. She twisted her hand carefully out of his, still clutching the rose.

The petals were wilting.

She kissed his forehead quickly and she Apparated to her house by herself. She changed clothes and brushed her teeth, returning back to the ward as quickly as she could. She knew she would probably run into Ron if she tried getting something from the kitchen, so she just sat on the chair beside his bed, waiting for him to wake up.

She watched the first petal fall off the rose when he woke up.

He didn't smile at her, but he didn't look angry, either. He sat up wordlessly and looked expectantly at her. She wrapped her hand securely in his and they made their way outside, back to the park. It was crowded as usual.

Without caring what the Muggles thought, she brought them to the same exact place where they had first laid down but this time, they were silent for quite a while.

"One. The sky." He said casually. Hermione smiled.

"Three. The clouds, the grass, and... that guy over there." She giggled as she turned in time to see Draco frown. "I was just kidding. You're much prettier, Draco."

His lips twitched, looking appeased. "One. The... Damn, I can't think of any."

"I win, then," Hermione announced, satisfied. Very abruptly, she twisted so she was lying on her side and she planted another kiss on his lips. He was just as eager as she was. He twisted an arm around her waist and kissed her even harder.

"No you didn't win, Granger," He murmured against her lips. "I'm going to come up with a thousand things in my next turn, and then I'll win this game once and for all."

-

They didn't eat that entire day. They didn't want to or need to, either. They found no desire to move or do anything else the rest of the day. However, they spent it walking around the park, walking past the hospital, and finally to her house.

She let him run his hands over her as they collapsed on the bed, lacing her own into his soft, silky hair. She let him tear her shirt off, discarding it to the side of the bed.

They didn't listen to their stomachs growling in protest or the wind hitting the windows violently. They ignored the booms of thunder and the crash of the rain against the house.

She looked up at the nightstand.

The rose continued to wilt.

-

They didn't return to St. Mungo's. He didn't want to die there.

They walked, hand in hand to the park, the rose between their fingers. There was nobody in sight - everyone had retreated because of the rain. Draco and Hermione didn't care about how the rain seeped through their clothes.

Instead, they just laid down at the grass in the middle of the park, under a tall tree. They lay, shivering together, her head against his shoulder, his head leaning against hers. Together, they watched the rain stop and the clouds break apart, revealing the bright orange glow of the sunset.

She turned her head towards him. He looked back. He reached over and took a lock of her hair in his hand. He twisted it between his fingers. He was gentle. He wiped away the tears that were rolling silently down her cheeks.

She saw the number on his arm start to fade away. The sun was still sinking. She looked into his eyes for the last time, how the sunlight hit his face so softly, revealing the smoothness of his skin. He wasn't frowning, for once. She knew he started to weaken.

She reached forward and held his hand in hers. He tightened his grip so fiercely she was almost shocked.

_"_Thank you," He mouthed. "For giving me the last day of my life."

He raised his other hand and curved his hand to brush her cheek once before letting his hand fall limply fo his chest.

"I'll miss you, Draco."

He chuckled softly. "Since when have you called me 'Draco,' Hermione?"

She tightened her grip on his hand. "Since when did you call me Hermione?"

He smiled, then. "Well, you aren't really Hermione to me."

She kept her eyes steady on his, feeling the sunlight begin to slip away from their faces, bringing the cold night that was about to approach. "Then what am I?" She asked quietly.

_"A thousand," _He whispered. "Unforgivably, unregrettably, and forever mine_._"

She watched as his eyes closed and his grip loosened, as the last remaining rose petal fell.

* * *

-

**Dedicated to a good friend. (**:** Who, without her music CD, I would have never finished this story.**

**Summary: Draco gets hit by a memory charm by Ron. Hermione finds out that Draco has a death curse. The "1" was the number of days he had left. Draco ends up loving Hermione because she's the least he can have before his time's up. He wanted to die knowing that he had her;; the closest he could have gotten to marrying and raising a family.**

**The game they're playing is "finding something beautiful." In the end, he says to make things short, that he thinks she's beautiful. "Mine" was the nickname he gave her when he didn't have his memory. You're probably wondering why she didn't try to cure him. There was no cure. It's a death curse. Almost like Avada Kedavra. **

**And...**

**I'd like to remind you that this is angst, guys. Angst. It's meant to be a little sad. (: **

**Anyways, as a fanfiction writer, I'm done for a while with the angst stories. Lol, I dunno I just felt like I needed to write some angst stories for a while. Inspired by songs and the person I dedicated this to. But now, I'm going to get to work on another fanfic about Draco and Hermione. Fin heureuse comme ça. **

**Thank you, everyone ^__^**


End file.
